AEP Names Llende Vice President, Tax

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- James X. Llende will join American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP) Nov. 9 as vice president, Tax, with responsibility for AEP 's federal, state and local tax compliance, tax audit, tax accounting and tax planning functions. He will replace Mark Pyle, who will retire from the company Jan. 28, 2018. Llende, 49, is currently senior tax director at NextEra Energy Inc. He will report to Joseph Buonaiuto, senior vice president, controller and chief accounting officer.

"James brings a wealth of demonstrated, strategic leadership on tax accounting and forecasting to AEP from NextEra. He was a director in PwC's utility tax practice in Chicago and also served as tax director, in addition to other finance director roles, at Exelon. His extensive experience will be beneficial in helping us manage future tax reform," Buonaiuto said.

"Mark has done an exceptional job leading our tax group for the last 15 years. We wish him and his family all the best in his retirement," Buonaiuto said.

Llende has been in his current position at NextEra since June 2012 with responsibility for tax accounting, forecasting and other tax matters for NextEra and its business units. He was a tax director for PwC in Chicago from August 2010 to May 2012 providing tax, accounting, planning and compliance expertise for several electric utility companies. Llende held several director roles in the finance organization at Exelon Corp. between 2002 and 2010 including tax director, corporate finance director, and financial control and analysis director. He worked as a senior tax manager in PwC's Tampa, Florida, office from 1997 to 2002.

Llende has bachelor of science and master of accountancy degrees from the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida.

American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is focused on building a smarter energy infrastructure and delivering new technologies and custom energy solutions to our customers. AEP's more than 17,000 employees operate and maintain the nation's largest electricity transmission system and more than 224,000 miles of distribution lines to efficiently deliver safe, reliable power to nearly 5.4 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the nation's largest electricity producers with approximately 33,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including 4,200 megawatts of renewable energy. AEP's family of companies includes utilities AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP also owns AEP Energy, AEP Energy Partners, AEP OnSite Partners and AEP Renewables, which provide innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide.

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SOURCE American Electric Power